Sheet bar unstacking device



Aug; '4, 1931. H E, 100mm 1,817,387

SHEET BAR UNs'AcKING DEVICE Filed Oct. 5, 1928 www Patented y Aug. 4,A 1931` [PATENT OAFFYlcEjp `HAROLD E. McoRnRY, or APOLLO,PnruusYLvArIrA,Y AssIGNOR To APOLLO HOLDING 1 CORPORATION, OF APOLLO, yrrnuN-sYLvANIA, A OOR-PonArron.` 'or DELAWARE sanar BAR UNsfrAoxrNGf DEVICE Agpucation mea october' 5, 192s. serial 110.310,612.

This invention relatesto sheet baruns'tackling devices.

4In the manufacture lof sheet metal.,l it isW overhead cranesfusually are employed for'k 'arranging the. bars in pilesadjacent a suit-' able conveyinglapparatus and thebarsordin'arly are transferred by 'hand to the -conv`veyor Avto be `moved endwiseintor a suitable "shearing apparatus.

Anirnportant Objectfof the presentfinven-V v' 16' `tion is topr'ovide mechanical means for trans-v ferring the sheet bars from piles -t-o the con.- veyor for movement Vinto L'the shearing apparatus. l

A further object is'to providea device ofV '20i the above mentioned c haracterwherein a pull is eXertedat opposite ends of one or more of 'the uppermost sheet bars to remove 'them 'fromthe pile or stack-,fthe pulling forcebe ling unequal at opposite 'ends of the bars 'to oause'the latter morereadilyfto slide 'fromv 'the'topofthestack l Y A furtherobject is' to 'provide novel'mea'ns forexerting uneven pullA at the opposite'endsl .f y n l carried'by Ea piston' rod 21 which operatesin of the bars for the; purposey stated.

` '35 tion willy become apparent'd-uring the Acourse of the following description.

` 'In the drawings'l haveshown onelenibodif` Y piston rod to prevent swinging movementlof `-the rod/281upwardlybeyond the position4 ishown in rFigureA 2.- 'The Outer'end ofthe 'n rod 28 ispiv'otally" connected as atv 30 to one kend of a puller arm 31 whichalso is pro-V ment of the invention. Inthisshowing, Figure 1 is va vplan view, 1

. k40 Figure 2 is aside elevation,r

Figure 3 is al detail'perspective) of one of 'and p Figure 4 is a detail fragmentary side eleva-y tion of a portion of one of the a'lining devices.

Referring' t0 the drawings, the numera'lv10 'designates a; pair ofsupporting foundations upon whioha vplurality of sheetvbars llyare 1';

' adapted tov beplaced. A1n superimposed posi- 1 tion by an Overhead vcraneor other stacking further object is to provide novelfmea'ns j the pulling fingers and associated elements,`

wardly from the oundationsl tol actas guides'in properlystacking the sheetbars.l

-A plurality of conveyor rolls 13-ar`e= `strr ranged in' a lineparallel to the stack of sheet bars, asshown' in Figures land 2; and are` ladapted to be rotatably supportedby suitablebearings 14:."V Two or more standards 15 meansf Vertical standards' .12V'extendfup-l are arranged adjacent 'one side of the line v'of conveyor rOlls-toact as guide meansfor'ilining up thebars,on'theconveyorsA lThe rolls 13 are adapted to support the sheet'b'arsfor endwisemovement into a'suitableshearing a'pparatus Vindicated generally lby thenuineral 16. lOne or more of the sheetbars is adapted lines" in position on the conveyorrolls. ,y the purposeof guiding' the sheet bars to position on the rolls, twol or more inclinesgl eX- tend between the tops 'of the foundations 10 adj acent'the conveyorrolls at theside thereof opposite the vstack of sheetbar's. `Each of these cylinders is provided with a piston'20 packing glands QQ'Orme'din opposite ends of the cylinders. V` vThe cylinders '-aregprovided with 4'extensionsQ3 pivotally supported vas at l 24, upon ytheupperends of standards 2.5 which r may be 'suitably braced as at 26.

` 'ZEach piston rod 21 is pivotally connected jto be conveyed at one timevinto the shearing l apparatus; in Figure 2 of they drawing v three of the sheet bars are indicated by dotted For `as at y27 to one end'ofa rod'28, the latter bef ing provided witha finger :29 overhanging :the

vided with `affing'er vv32 overhanging the rod l yinfFi'gure 2. YThus itwillj bey apparent that.

lthe weight of thest'an'dards and associated elements, and theweights of the arms-28-and 31 are supported upon ythe uppermost'fb'ar in thefst-ak The under side'offthe outer end' ofeach arm 31 is inclined as at 33 to provide a hook 34 adapted to engage the uppermost bar oli' the stack, or two or more bars-if desired.

The pistons 2O are adapted to be operated by compressed air which may be supplied 'to the cylinders through a main supply pipe 35 connected to a valve chest 36. A suitable control valve (not shown) is arranged in the valve chest 36 and is adapted to be operated by a suitable handle 87. This valve is movable to one position 5o admit air pressure into the outer ends oi the cylinders 18 and 19 through flexible connections 38 while air is exhausted from the opposite ends of the cylinders. The valve handle is .operable to a secy ondposition to exhaust air from 'the outer ends of the cylinders and to admit air into the inner ends thereof through flexible connections 39 and 40 respectively. Y Y f VIt will be obvious that the flexible connection 39 is materially smaller than the connection 40, and accordingly air will be admitted more rapidly into the inner end of the cylinder19 than into the corresponding end of the cylinder 18, thus exerting an uneven pull on U the hooks 34'to slide one end of the uppermost sheet bar from the stach ahead of the other end, this action being found desirableA to facilitate the sliding action of the bar from the top of the stack. This movement of the uppermost bar is indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1.

y ment to the conveyor rolls.r

The pulling of the uppermost bar or bars from the stack causes them to fall downwardly upon the inclines 17 for sliding move- The lower ends of the inclines 1-7 are arranged above the top?. of the conveyor rolls to 'form with the standards 15 pockets to receive the bars whereby more than one bar may be conveyed to the shears atene time if desired. V

' Means is provided for properly lining up the bars upon the conveyor-rolls for movementtothe shears. As shown,a pair of swinging arms 41 are pivotally supported by shafts 42 in bearings 43 and depend theref from. The arms 41 are provided at their up- Vsiliently .opposed by springs 46.

`The arms 41 are slotted as at 47, and pins 48 are arranged in these slots. A piston 49 is mounted in each of two cylinders 50 and a piston rod 51 is connected to each of these pistons. The pins 48 are connected to the out-er ends of the piston rods 51 whereby the arms 41 are adapted to swing from the fsolid to the dotted line vpositions indicated in Figure 2.

The operation of the device'is as follows:

The sheet bars are placed in superimposed position on the foundations 10, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The arms 31 are then placed in position on the top oi the stack, and the device is ready for operation. The valve handle 87 is moved to admit air pressure to the inner ends of the cylinders 18 and 19 through the flexible connections 39 and. 49, while air is exhausted from the rear ends of the cylinders through the connections 38. The pistons 29 then starl: to move to pull the piston rods 21, rods 28 and arms 31. @wing to the differential admission of pressure into the cylinders, one ot the pistons moves faster than the other, thus exerting an uneven pull upon the uppermost bar or-bars of the stack. This causes the dislodged bar or bars to slide readily from the next lower bar, and to fall upon the inclines 17 for sliding movement to the conveyor' rolls.

As the uppermost bar is pulled from the stack, the inclined face 33 of each arm 31 will be supported upon the next lower bar oi the stach, and the parts are then ready for return movement to normal position. To accomplishv this movement, the handle 39 is `meved to admit air pressure into the outer -drop in position behind the next sheet bar.

The conveyorrolls 18 if desired, may be power driven to move the bars to the shear-y ingdevice, but in .the present mst-ance, they vkare shown merely as rotatably supported rollers which are adapted to be operate-d by rmanually pushing the bars thereover. The Abars are moved -from the conveyor vto the-- shearing device 16 whereupon they are out in suitable lengths to be rolled out into sheets. n

The hooks 34 of the arms 31 are shown of adepth equal to the thickness of one of the sheet bars, and when it is desired to cut two or more bars-at one time, the device may be successively operated to unstacl successive bars from the top of the stock. lf desired, the hooks 34 may be made of a depth equal to the thickness oftwo or more bars whereby'a number of the latter may be unstacked simultaneously.

The bars are adapted to slide to the conveyor rolls with substantial accuracy. However, it is desired to provide the alining devices so thatthe bars may be more accurately lined up on the conveyor rolls in contact with-the standards 15. Ordinarily, the arms 41 occupy the position shown in full lines in Figure 2 of the drawings. Any suitable meansimay be employed for admitting air into the inner ends of the cylinders 50 after thefbars are in position on the conveyor rolls. This action causes they pistons 49 to move and pull the piston rod-s' 51, thus moving the arms 41 to thedottedvline position shown in Figure2,'the lingers 44 contacting with the edges o fthe bars on the conveyor rolls 173 to move the bars into contact With the standards '15in properyposition for movement to the shears. f

After this action is completed, air isadmitted into the opposite ends of the cylinders 50 to return the parts of the alining device to normal position. If for. any reason, the cylinder 50 and associated parts fails to function to return the parts to normalposition, movement of subsequent sheet bars down the inclines 17 will cause the lingers 44 to swing against the tension of the springs .46 as suggestedin dotted lines in Figure 4. yThus the portions adapted to engage lon opposite sides ofthe center against one side of at least the uppermost bar of a stack of bars, a pair of cylinders, a piston mounted to reciprocate in each cylinder, lmeans for connecting each of said pistons to one of said members, and means for differentially introducing fluid pressure into said cylinders to cause the hook portionsvof said members to exert an unequal pullingv force against the uppermost bar or bars of the stack transversely thereof.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HAROLD E. MCCRERY.

pivoted arrangement of the fingers 144 pre- Vents any possible injury thereto.

It isr to be understood that the form of the Vinvention herewith shown and described Vis to be taken as a preferred example of they same and that various changes in the shape,

size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims. l Y

I claim:

l. A device of the character described com prising a pair of relatively movable members adapted to engage at least the uppermost bar of a stack of superimposed bars, operating means for moving said ,membersY transversely of the stack to slide the uppermost bar ork bars therefrom, and means acting upon said operating means to move one of said members faster than the other.

2. A device of the character described comvprising a pair of relatively movable members adapted to engage at least the uppermost bar of a stack of superimposed'bars, andmeans for imparting differential movement to said members transversely of the stack.

3. A Vdevice of the character described comprising a pair of relatively movable members adapted to rest upon theuppermost bar of a stack of bars, each member having a portion adapted to engage the edge portions of at least the uppermost bar, and means for transmitting difl'erenial pulling forces to said membersto cause the uppermost bar ory bars to slide transversely from the stack.

4. A device of the character described 

